19. The Church welcomes Holy Scripture for what it really is: The Word of God.

The Church welcomes Holy Scripture for what it really is: The Word of God.

YOUCAT Catechism + Catechism of the Catholic Church Lesson 19

Ave Maria Series

19.  What role does Sacred Scripture play in the Church?

The Church draws her life and strength from Sacred Scripture.  [103-104, 131-133, 141]

  

The Second Vatican Council urged scriptural reading of the Bible rather than relying solely on devotional writings, booklets, and the lives of the saints. .....19 .....180

Besides the presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist, there is nothing that the Church honors more reverently than Christ’s presence in Sacred Scripture.  At Holy Mass we receive the Gospel standing, because in the human words we hear, God himself speaks to us.  128

“To read Sacred Scripture means to turn to Christ for advice.”  St. Francis of Assisi (1183-1226, founder of religious orders, mystic)

[103-104, 131-133, 141]

CHRIST - THE UNIQUE WORD OF SACRED SCRIPTURE

103  For this reason, the Church has always venerated the Scriptures as she venerates the Lord's Body. She never ceases to present to the faithful the bread of life, taken from the one table of God's Word and Christ's Body.(Compare Dei Verbum 21.)⁶⁶ –Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

104  In Sacred Scripture, the Church constantly finds her nourishment and her strength, for she welcomes it not as a human word, "but as what it really is, the word of God" (1 Thessalonians 2:13; compare Dei Verbum 24).⁶⁷ "In the sacred books, the Father who is in heaven comes lovingly to meet his children, and talks with them. (Dei Verbum 21)."⁶⁸ –CCC

SACRED SCRIPTURE IN THE LIFE OF THE CHURCH

131  "And such is the force and power of the Word of God that it can serve the Church as her support and vigor, and the children of the Church as strength for their faith, food for the soul, and a pure and lasting fount of spiritual life _{(Dei Verbum 21})."¹⁰⁹    Hence "access to Sacred Scripture ought to be open wide to the Christian faithful (Dei Verbum 22)."¹¹⁰ –CCC

132  "Therefore, the study of the sacred page should be the very soul of sacred theology. The ministry of the Word, too - pastoral preaching, catechetics and all forms of Christian instruction, among which the liturgical homily should hold pride of place - is healthily nourished and thrives in holiness through the Word of Scripture (Dei Verbum 24)."¹¹¹ –CCC

133  The Church "forcefully and specifically exhorts all the Christian faithful. . . to learn the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ, ‘by frequent reading of the divine Scriptures. Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ (Dei Verbum 25; compare Philippians 3:8 and St. Jerome, Commentariorum in Isaiam libri xviii prol.: Patrologia Latina 24, 17b)’”.¹¹² –CCC

IN BRIEF

141  "The Church has always venerated the divine Scriptures as she venerated the Body of the Lord" (Dei Verbum 21): both nourish and govern the whole Christian life. "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path" (Psalm 119:105; compare Isaiah 50:4). --CCC